Zillow, Redfin, Realtor.com, other? best tool for finding real estate investments

[Andrew Newcomb]

I'm really curious about buying out of state (or anywhere) wherever I can get the best ROI. I'm not bullish where I live, Portland, OR (high prop taxes, tougher landlord laws, affordability, etc.).

But my method of evaluating properties has proven time-consuming. I have always used Zillow/Redfin to find property and then use other tools to verify and evaluate details about them (like finding out how much rent you can get, confirming property taxes on the county website, HOA fees, etc.). I like the maps on Redfin/Zillow/Realtor.com to see where the property is and what is for sale (and use the quick filters to narrow down a price range). But then after finding something I'm interested in, I usually have to do more evaluation on a spreadsheet (find out a cap rate, figure out potential rent, interest calculation, utilities, property taxes, wear and tear, depreciation, etc) and then find that the numbers don't work out.

It would be great if there was a tool that had all that information in one place, and would do the analysis instantly! That way it could show the properties that already cash flow, rather than having to run the analysis manually on a bunch of properties. I'm curious how more experienced real estate investors find and evaluate properties? What are folks doing to find deals, and find out if a property can cash flow? Do you also use Redfin/Zillow as a starting point? and then have a separate spreadsheet for evaluating? And go to different services to find "Rent" (like the bigerpockets rent tool, or "rentometer") and property taxes? Or do you have a tool that can do a lot of this in one place?  

Thanks!